Word must have got out that ex-Blizzards frontman Bressie is single again – hundreds of leggy women in their late 20s have crammed into Whelan’s for his sold-out debut solo gig.
After opening with ‘Last Tube Home’, an anthem about chasing tail in the post-pub darkness, Bressie has the crowd wrapped around his little finger. As proficient as U2 and as catchy as early Kings Of Leon, Bressie has not lost The Blizzards’ huge stage presence and energy.
“You’ve no idea how good it is to be back,” he sweatily confesses to the screaming masses, before launching into the stellar ‘She Ticks All The Boxes’, and following it with the ‘80s-influenced ‘I Don’t Have Plans To Let You Down’. Two tracks that prove the Mullingar man can encapsulate that 2am feeling between two people, with pithy observations and truths.
It turns out his family are in the house, as are several former Blizzards band-mates. So it’s appropriate that he plunges into a break-up song, ‘Postcards’ – like having Maggie May herself at a Rod Stewart gig, the crowd are privy to an intimate exchange.
With an onstage presence bigger than his pecs, Bressie whips up a frenzy with his crafted and energetic new endeavour.